Dell has a very tough road ahead. The company faces an extended period of uncertainty and transition that will not be good for its customers... [Dell's] ability to invest in new products and services will be extremely limited. Leveraged buyouts tend to leave existing customers and innovation at the curb.

The company also took aim at Dell's "significant debt load" and suggests that it is eager to execute "plans to take full advantage" to poach Dell customers "eager to explore alternatives."

The statements are not HP's first flamboyant comments in recent months. Since Ms. Whitman took over the company seems to be relishing its role as a melodramatic attention-seeker. Most recently it engaged in a warof press-releaseswith former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch, whom HP is alleging committed financial fraud.

Expect more groan worthy releases to land in months to come, as HP continues to lash about.

> That's why I build my own desktops. the small ITX boards do a great job and I can replace any failed component if needed. Fortunately I've only had to deal with a bad power-supply or hard-drive. Easily resolved and back up and running.

Can you build 5000 identical (same bios, gfx, etc) over the next 18 months? And can you manage them without a KVM hookup?

It's easy to build 1 or 10 really nice desktop or server PCs. It's a very different problem when you need them on a larger scale, and cannot afford the time to deal with product variation. That's where Dell and HP make a lot of their money.

"Game reviewers fought each other to write the most glowing coverage possible for the powerhouse Sony, MS systems. Reviewers flipped coins to see who would review the Nintendo Wii. The losers got stuck with the job." -- Andy Marken